Hospitals denying admission to COVID patients won't be spared, warns Delhi CM

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned all the private hospitals of Delhi which are denying to admit COVID-19 patients on Saturday. He, however, added that most of the private hospitals in Delhi were good and only a couple of them were indulging in such malpractice.

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday has warned all the private hospitals that are denying to admit COVID-19 patients.

In his address to Delhi people, he said, "Some hospitals are denying admission to COVID-19 patients. I am warning those who think they will be able to do black-marketing of beds using the influence of their protectors from other parties, you will not be spared."

Asserting that there is no dearth of hospital beds in the national capital to treat COVID-19 patients, he said the Delhi government would deploy medical professionals at each private hospital to keep a tab on available beds.

"We will take strong action against such hospitals and they cannot refuse patients. Some time will be needed to break the mafia who are indulging in it. These few hospitals have political connections but they should not be under illusion that their political masters can save them," he said in a virtual press briefing.

He informed that a mobile application was launched to stop the black marketing of beds.

"We introduced the application so that the public can get to know about the number of beds and ventilators in hospitals. But this created an uproar as if we committed a crime," added Kejriwal.

He, however, added that most of the private hospitals in Delhi were good and only a couple of them were indulging in such malpractice.

The government is talking to the owners of private hospitals to determine their problems in reserving 20 per cent of their beds for COVID-19 patients, he said.

The chief minister also said that testing of COVID-19 has not been stopped in Delhi as reported by a section of media.

He said that currently 36 government and private laboratories were doing test of the novel coronavirus. Action was taken against six labs for irregularities, he added.

As of today, Delhi has a total of 26,334 positive coronavirus patients.